Alesis QS7.1, QS8.1 manual What WE’LL Cover Here, Power of MIX Mode

MIDI: Part 5

PART 5

MIDI

WHAT WE’LL COVER HERE...

•Sequencing with the QS7.1/QS8.1 via MIDI or the serial port.

•Using the QS as a master MIDI keyboard for a live rig, along with a little more info about controlling external MIDI devices from a Card sequence.

•Sys-ex transfers. How to go about transferring single Programs, Mixes or an entire User bank via Sys-ex to a computer or another QS series synth.

…AND WHAT WE WON’T (BUT WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT).

•How to create a Mix. We will go over selecting Programs within a Mix (the very top level of Mix editing), but for information on things like setting levels or selecting the Effects Patch within the Mix, see Part 7: Editing Mixes. Our main focus here will be on interfacing the QS with the outside world.

•General MIDI (GM) will only receive a brief amount of coverage here, because it’s covered pretty well in the discussion about Global Edit Mode’s page 7 (Part 4: Basic Operation). There’s even more in-depth coverage of it in Part 10: Appendices (Appendix B: MIDI Supplement).

•Basic MIDI concepts. If you’re a novice to the world of MIDI, you should make it a point to read the MIDI Supplement in Appendix B soon. It’ll help things make a lot more sense a lot sooner if you want to get a good handle on MIDI sequencing.

THE POWER OF MIX MODE

In Program Mode, the QS sends and receives MIDI information on only one MIDI channel at a time. In Mix Mode, however, the QS can send and receive on as many as 16 MIDI channels at once, each with its own keyboard range and a whole lot of other parameters you can customize. Mix Mode allows a single QS to play back full song arrangements at one time, with full control over the levels and stereo placement of the various Programs, complete with the Effects necessary to make the music shine.

But we also said it cansend (and how!). A QS in Mix Mode gives you the potential to control a whole lot of other MIDI devices at one time. When the next song calls for you to layer strings from that box with the brass from this box along with a couple of internal Programs, mixed just so, while calling up the DMPro kit for the drummer, setting the Q20 Reverb patch for the singer, and changing the setup on your lighting controller, selecting a single Mix on the QS can do all of that. It’ll set up your whole rig instantly, right before the next song is to begin (even if your band changes its collective mind at the last second and starts a tune that wasn’t on the song list!).

We’ll dig into the MIDI controller aspects of the QS later in this chapter. For now, let’s start talking about…

QS7.1/QS8.1 Reference Manual 49